Muslims
In Britain: Past And Presentby Ataullah
Siddiqui, "The Bulletin", organ of the Henry Martyn Institute of Islamic
Studies, India

This article will discuss in brief
the early immigration of Muslims into Britain. It traces the contributing
factors for such immigration and discusses the problems faced by early
immigrants. It analyses immigrants’ initiatives to live as Muslims and
their encounters with other faiths, especially Christianity. Finally, the
article highlights some of the contemporary problems faced by the community
living in Britain.

Development
of the Community

Although Muslim migration to Britain
began from the mid nineteenth century, the immediate opportunity was brought
about in 1869 by the opening of the Suez Canal. This facilitated increased
trade between Britain and its colonies, and a contingent force of labourers
to work on the ships and in the ports. The obvious choice of such labourers
were the Yemenis. They were the first group of Muslim migrants who arrived
at the British ports of Cardiff, Liverpool, Pollockshields and London.
Between 1890-1903, nearly forty thousand seaman arrived on British shores
and about thirty thousand of them, according to one report, spent some
part of their lives in Britain.

Inevitably, there was a language
barrier between the Yemeni workers and their British employers. This, the
Yemenis solved in tribal fashion. Yemeni workers, upon their arrival at
British ports, assigned themselves to a particular leader for their daily
needs and work requirements. The leaders were usually chosen because of
their relatively better communication skills, and their awareness of employers’
needs and government requirements. Sometimes this transit period could
be extended by months, and this could be a very difficult time for Yemeni
sailors. Bit by bit, some of them began to settle for longer periods and
married local British girls. In port cities like Cardiff and Liverpool,
there are now several generations of Muslims in the community.

Additionally there were others who
migrated and settled in Britain. Civil servants of the British Raj used
to visit Britain either to acquire work experience or to take civil service
examination in order to gain promotion in their jobs. A small number of
them settled in Britain. People such as Abdullah Yusuf Ali, a civil servant
and translator of the Qur’an into English, lived, married and died in Britain.

On the one hand, then, we have the
British Empire, which attracted increasing numbers of immigrants to Britain,
whilst on the other, we have native Britons who were attracted to the faith
and beliefs of these immigrants. Pursuant to their regular visits to Muslim
countries, these Britons were attracted by the mystical dimension of Islam.
Others came into contact with Muslim professionals and students in Britain
because they mingled with the British aristocracy; they shared a similar
background. These two factors played an important role in establishing
Islam in Britain.

During the latter part of the last
century and until the beginning of the Second World War, two key institutions
emerged, one in Liverpool and the other in Surrey. William H Quilliam,
a lawyer in Liverpool, visited Morocco in 1887. There he was attracted
to Islam, and soon became a Muslim, founding The Liverpool Mosque and The
Muslim Institute. He edited The Islamic World (begun in 1890) and The Crescent,
a weekly publication in which he wrote extensively about Islam and Muslims.
A number of tracts were also published. Quilliam also established Madina
House, a house for orphans in Liverpool. His works attracted both Muslims
and non-Muslims alike and also seem to have had a lasting audience abroad.
He received a personal gift from the Amir of Afghanistan and the Ottoman
Sultan invited him to visit Istanbul and soon appointed him Shaykh al-Islam.
The Muslim Institute established a Muslim College where it enrolled both
Muslim and non-Muslim students. Quilliam’s activities attracted a large
number of critics and eventually he left Liverpool for Jersey, later returning
to work under a pseudonym.

The second important institution,
The Working Mission was initially begun by Dr Leitner, a Hungarian Orientalist
who established a mosque there in 1889, and as a result the place was neglected
for the next twelve years, until Khwaja Kamaluddin from India arrived in
1912. Kamaludin’s sole objective was to remove misconceptions about Islam
in Britain and perhaps he expected that this would also influence and reduce
misconceptions about Islam throughout the Empire. In 1913, he began publishing
a monthly journal, Muslim India and Islamic Review which later changed
to Islamic Review. The Working Mission enjoyed a considerable boost when
Lord Headley converted to Islam. He came into contact with Islam when he
went to India in 1896 as a contract engineer. Both Kamaluddin and Lord
Headley gave direction to the Mission. In 1914, Headley established The
British Muslim Society, aiming perhaps to give a contextual image of Muslims
and Islam as part of British society. While The Working Mission progressed,
in London Marmaduke Pickthall announced his conversion to Islam. He too
had been in constant touch with The Working Mission. Pickthall translated
the Qur’an into English and published a journal from London called The
Muslim Outlook. In this way, Britain's contact with Islam continued to
deepen at the intellectual as well as the grassroots levels.

Migration
after World War II

The mass migration to Britain of
Pakistanis (including Bangladeshis) had its origin in colonialism. For
example, many soldiers who joined the British army in the war were posted
to the British Isles, and some of them began to settle there. Initially,
however, their number was very small, until after the partition of India.
Partition caused the displacement of large populations, especially in the
Punjab and Mirpur (a significant sector of the populations who joined the
British army), who then began to look to their future in Britain over a
longer term. The second important factor which contributed to migration
was the construction of the Mangla Dam in Pakistan. This, in effect, displaced
100,000 people, especially the Mirpuris. With their compensation money,
some settled in other parts of Pakistan; others, however, looked for the
sponsorship of their relatives in Britain and subsequently settled there
in large numbers. Their initial intent was to earn enough money to buy
a plot of land and build houses for their families and settle in Pakistan.
The rapid increase in demand for unskilled labour in British industries
also occasioned large scale migration, the pattern being the same as for
the Punjabis or Mirpuris, namely, sponsorship and initial help have tended
towards single males, who share houses and work long hours, and then visit
families and friends at home for a long break, usually every year or two.

The economic climate in post-war
Britain changed rapidly. There were fewer jobs and opportunities for people
compared with the early 1950s. Inevitably, the government began to restrict
migrant workers and in 1961, the commonwealth Immigration Act was passed
which came into force the following year. Arguably, this Act was the turning
point in the growth of the Muslim population in Britain. The eighteen month
long gap between the passing of the Immigration Act and its enforcement
provided time for reflection for those who were working in Britain: did
they want to return to their country of origin, or make Britain their home?
Basically, the Act imposed restrictions on adults intending to work in
Britain. By 1964, the Ministry of Labour stopped granting permission for
the unskilled to work in Britain. The impact of this legislation was such
that each single male who had formerly shared a house with others, now
began looking for houses for their families in a nearby neighbourhood.
Once their families arrived, the immediate concern of the parents was for
their children. They wanted to impart religious education by teaching the
Qur’an, basic beliefs and the practices of Islam to their children. This
meant allocating a house for their children’s education in the neighbourhood
and using the same house for the five daily prayers. Muslim dietary laws
saw the development of halal butcher shops and the import of Asian spices.
This also gave birth to the Asian corner shops in Britain. In this way,
the growth of the Muslim neighbourhood had begun.

The second wave of migration came
from East African countries. Asians who were occupied in the wholesale
and distributive trade in Africa, provided the necessary banking and financial
services. Their participation in the economy was checked by the Africanization
policy of the newly independent African countries. Banks and private businesses
were nationalized. This left Asian businessmen and their families with
a stark choice between African enterprise, under strict regulation, or
leaving the country. They opted for the latter. A large number of Asians
had British passports, and so, they decided to come to Britain. This resulted
in the Commonwealth Immigration Act of 1968, which removed the right of
entry to the U.K. for passport holders living abroad.

By the early 1960’s, there seems
to have been a considerable determination by Muslim countries to send their
students for higher education in Britain. This was demonstrated by a slow
but steady growth in student populations from Malaysia, Iran, Pakistan,
Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries. These overseas students started
to form Islamic Societies in various British universities. This was within
the framework of University and Student Union policies. In 1962, the Islamic
Societies felt the need to form a Federation of Islamic Societies in order
to provide basic guidance to new students arriving in Britain, and facilities
for Friday prayers in university campuses. They also held annual ‘Islamic
Weeks’, consisting of lectures, exhibitions and video shows and in general,
they helped Muslim students with support for their needs. Gradually, a
number of students decided to stay and came to play a leading role within
the community. A number of organizations also came into existence including
The U.K. Islamic Mission (1962), The Muslim Student's Society (1962), The
Union of Muslim Organizations (1970), The Islamic Council of Europe (1973),
Young Muslims (1984), The Islamic Party (1989), The Islamic Society of
Britain (1990), and, more recently, The Muslim Parliament, The UK Action
Committee of Islamic Affairs, The World Islamic Mission, Jamiat’Ulama -i-
Islam and many others. These Muslim organizations and their role is beyond
the scope of this article.

One important point to remember though,
is that the Muslim community's development in Britain has been overwhelmingly
on religious lines, as Punjabis from Pakistan and Sylhetis from Bangladesh
have nothing in common culturally, socially, or linguistically. The Punjabi
dress, shalwar qamis, and the Sylheti lungi for men and sari for women
are not comparable. Differences in eating preferences have similarly affected
the varying vocabularies. For example, a Punjabi might ask whether you
have had a roti, (meaning did you have your dinner), whilst a Bengali will
emphasize bhat (rice). However, in Britain, Bengalis and Punjabis co-operated
in establishing mosques and schools for their children. This co-operation
was based more on denominational lines rather than geographical or linguistic
grounds. Nonetheless, the Punjabis and Bangalis have obtained Local Authority
grants on linguistic and cultural grounds. This is due to the fact that
the Local Authorities’ help is available on ethnic, linguistic and racial
grounds and not on religious ones.

Muslims,
Race and Law

Such growing immigration in the country
began to present another problem, which eventually led the government to
include racial discrimination in the Statute Book as a crime. The Race
Relations Act (1976) was passed, and any discrimination on the basis of
race in opportunities for employment was considered a criminal offence.
This was an advancement in one direction to consider the needs of the immigrant
community and to protect those needs. But soon, protection on the basis
of race began to create its own problems. Muslims are a faith community
and do not fit into a strict racial definition. Their needs and priorities
are different, more to do with religion rather than race. Muslims, in the
eyes of the Race Relations Act, do not constitute an ethnic group and,
therefore, in order to prove religious discrimination, Muslims have to
prove that they have been discriminated against as a racial group in which
their religion is a dominant fact. The victim’s geographical and ethnic
origin has also to be taken into consideration to establish the discrimination,
and this is extremely difficult. But even in this situation, a significant
number of British Muslims, such as European or Afro-Caribbean Muslims,
could not be protected. An Asian Muslim woman, for example, can claim protection
under the law to adjust her uniform or apparel in a High Street shop according
to Islamic norms and most likely the employer will accept this. But, a
European or Caribbean Muslim woman will not be able to make a similar appeal.
For example, an incident in a bed and breakfast establishment where a White
man kept shouting and using abusive language at a White Muslim woman, obviously
intending to insult her, was not considered as racial harassment by the
local Race Relations officers because the assailant and the victim were
both White.

Fostering and adoption laws, again,
take a racial stance. For example, the adoption or fostering of a Black
child is always to be by a Black family. Here a Muslim would be content
to see that a white Muslim child be given to a Black or Asian Muslim Family
or vice versa but would be very uncomfortable to see a Black Muslim child,
say of Somali origin, fostered into a Black Caribbean Christian family.
But, the Race Relations Act recognizes the latter situation, not the former.
In brief, the Muslims in Britain are classified as ‘Asian’ and their common
needs across race and ethnic divides have so far received little or no
response from the authorities. Now the Commission for Racial Equality is
proposing – and has received a great deal of support, including that of
the Inner Cities Religious Council – to amend the Public Order Act, 1986
and include discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, along
with the present grounds of colour, race and nationality (this includes
citizenship, ethnic or national origin). This amendment will now extend
to cover the British mainland, since in Northern Ireland, incitement on
grounds of religious hatred has been incorporated in the Act since 1987.
This, if incorporated, will redress, to some extent, the current imbalance.

Muslims
and Interfaith Relations

Muslims have played a crucial role
and shown a consistent interest in interfaith activities. The formation
of The World Congress of Faiths and Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s participation
in that organization have been mentioned elsewhere. However, the arrival
of Muslims on British shores and cities has been a constant source of curiosity
for the churches. The plight of the early migrants attracted church responses
towards the end of the last century and early this century. The organized
dialogue between Christians and Muslims began with the emphasis on good
community relations and inter-religious understanding. The initiative came
from local churches, where the inner city population was fairly large,
and the local authorities faced an unprecedented challenge of community
relations. Against this background, as far as we know, the first bi-lateral
dialogue between Christians and Muslims took place in May 1973 with the
theme ‘Islam in the Parish’. The outcome of this dialogue was the formation
of a panel of Muslims and Christians, which in fact set the theme of the
subsequent second and third bi-lateral dialogues between the two communities.
‘The Family in Islam and Christianity’ (1974) was the theme of the second,
and ‘Worship and Prayer in Islam and Christianity’ (1975) was the theme
for the third meeting. All three dialogues were held at Woodhall, Wetherby,
with the co-operation of the local authority, and the proceedings were
edited by the Community Relations Chaplaincies of Bradford and Wakefield,
and published by the Bradford Metropolitan District Community Relations
Council. By 1974, churches began to feel the need to conduct a survey of
Muslims in Britain. The British Council of Churches (now Council of Churches
for Britain and Ireland (CCBI)) jointly appointed an advisory group to
study the presence of Islam in Britain. The Rt. Rev. David Brown, Bishop
of Guilford, also then a member of the panel of Muslims and Christians
of the Wetherby dialogues, was appointed Chairman of this advisory group.
He was chosen because of his experience of working amongst Muslims in Middle
East and Africa. But before the Committee could produce their findings,
the ‘World Festival of Islam’ (1976) caught the attention of the British
people. The advisory panel’s terms of reference were now widened, and the
question of the Festival’s impact was incorporated. The advisory panel
produced its findings in 1976 and published them under the tile `A New
Threshold: Guidelines for the Churches in their Relations with Muslim Communities.’
This dialogue between Christians and Muslims has continued ever since,
with formal and informal discussions on various issues being a regular
feature between the two communities.

Multi -lateral dialogue though, began
with the formation of The World Congress of Faiths, and at grass-root levels
the initiative began in 1972. Jews, Christians and Muslims took initiatives
to meet regularly and the stated aim was to provide a forum in Europe for
meetings among members of the three religious communities who share a belief
in one God, and find their roots in the figure of Abraham. Since 1974,
the JCM dialogue group has met bi-annually at the Hedwig Dronfeld Haus
Bendorf in Germany, and is overwhelmingly attended by young people from
Britain and Germany. Their Autumn gathering is exclusively for women. This
week-long gathering provides an opportunity to observe each others’ way
of living, of praying and to understand what the other holds so precious.
Another multi-lateral dialogue is The Leeds Concord Inter-Faith Fellowship.
Here Muslims encounter not just Jews and Christians, but also Hindus, Buddhists
and Sikhs, many seeing these faiths at close quarters for the first time.
The constant growth of interfaith organizations at local and regional levels
prompted The British Council of Churches and its Committee for Relations
with people of other Faiths to form links with existing interfaith organizations.
A new organization was established in March, 1987 called Interfaith Network,
with the purpose of providing a service to existing interfaith organizations.
Over the last ten years, it has been able to provide a unique platform
for its affiliated member organizations to discuss pressing issues among
themselves, and collectively with government bodies, secular institutions
and the media.

Contemporary
Challenges

Muslims in Britain came, overwhelmingly,
from Muslim majority countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Middle
Eastern countries. Arriving in a non-Muslim society, they faced language
difficulties, cultural apprehensions, and educational expectations; all
in all, an overwhelming situation. A substantial number of immigrants thought
they were entering into a Christian country. The perception of the West
and Western countries, such as Britain, was of a Christian population,
full of religious spirit, with churches full on Sundays. What they saw,
though, was a completely different and unexpected picture of a secular,
modern culture where Christianity is marginalized. It has merely a decorative
purpose but little value in the everyday lives of people. Furthermore,
critical inquiries about God, prophets, especially Jesus, and religion
in general were vilified on television and in their daily encounters with
fellow workers in factories and other places. These views on religion,
in general, baffled the Muslim community. This perception, rightly or wrongly,
remains in the Muslim psyche. Furthermore, the immigrant communities’ own
understanding of Islam was marinated with their cultural understanding
of Islam. Thus customs and traditions have played an important role in
defining their religion in Britain.

The indigenous community perceived
the newly arrived Muslim community as having a monolithic culture with
monolithic practices and religious beliefs. They saw Asian, but little
difference between Sikhs, Muslims or Hindus. Only five years ago, I attended
a Christian-Muslim dialogue group where at lunch time we were served lamb
and vegetables along with other items on the menu. One of our hosts asked
a member of the kitchens staff whether he had bought the meat from a halal
butcher. He replied yes, that he had bought it from an Asian butcher. The
host asked if the butcher was a Muslim. He did not know; he presumed that
all Asian butchers are halal and had not thought it important enough to
inquire about.

The growth of Muslims in Britain
has created in some ways a generation gap. In the early days of migration
and settlement, Muslims imported imams to run their local mosques and teach
their children basic Islamic education. The imams presumed that the children
they were teaching in the mosques and madrasahs were the children of Mirpuris,
Punjabis or Bengalis and treated them as such. But the reality was different.
During the day schools the children were encouraged to question and reason
but the same children, in their evening classes in the mosques, were discouraged
from questioning and reasoning, rather the emphasis was on repeating and
memorizing. A child perhaps wants to know the reason behind what she or
he was learning, but this was something the imams invariably discouraged.
Furthermore, the children’s language of communication has increasingly
become English, and now for the third generation of Muslims, English is
their first language. But in a large number of madrasahs the imams still
teach them in Urdu, or in other Asian languages. It is not surprising that
there is an increasing frustration amongst the youth about such methods
of teaching.

The increasing use of imams from
villages of the Indian sub-continent and the reliance of the congregation
of a mosque on day-to-day fiqh issues seems then, a problem rather than
a cure. Theological issues, rather than the jurisprudential issues of living
in Britain, have hardly been touched upon by imams, nor do they think there
is an urgency to do so. They lead daily prayers, they conduct marriages,
lead janazah (funeral) prayers and perform similar other requirements of
the congregation. However, very few possess the skills and the vision to
understand the meaning of living as a Muslim in a pluralist society. The
community has recognized this gap and opened up seminaries to train their
imams. But the tragedy is that the syllabus of such seminaries hardly reflects
contemporary challenges and needs. The only difference between an imported
imam and a local trained imam lies in the fact that the latter can convey
his message in English, whilst the former cannot.

Muslim
youth who become actively involved in Islamic activities during their college
and university lives, discover a sense of attachment as well as pride in
their religion. Usually their new found faith in Islam questions their
parents’ beliefs and practices in religion. At times, the youth seem to
become born again Muslims, with a zeal to change their families’ and friends’
way of practising Islam. Their missionary zeal convinces them to see themselves
as right, and others as wrong. They see their fellow Muslims as lapsed
or inadequate Muslims, and the non-Muslims as potential enemies of Islam,
conspiring and colluding against the wider Muslim community, with the general
Muslim leadership collaborating with them. The Satanic Verses for example,
is presented as a British conspiracy against Muslims. External factors
such as the Gulf crisis, the massacre of Muslims in Bosnia, and the issue
of wearing the head scarf (hijab) in France strengthens their case.

Today, the Muslim community in Britain
is a relatively settled community. The idea of ‘going home one day’ is
rarely heard. As far as the youth are concerned, there are two tendencies:
one who associates with the religious ethos, and the other more inclined
to ‘bhangra’ culture. The two tendencies, though, have one thing in common:
they are both agitated groups. The future course of Muslims in Britain
largely depends upon their choice of future directions.This
article is based on a talk given to an invited audience at the Henry Martyn
Institute of Islamic Studies, Hyderabad, in November 1995.